Monday, 9 November 2015

2015 Bottom-fermenting Dutch Bok

There’s something I really like about the Bokbierfestival programme: it has pretty complete technical specs for the beers. OG, ABV, colour and bitterness. Dead handy for a numbers freak like me.

Which is why it’s surprising that it’s taken me so long to harvest any of this lovely data. A decade or two. What was I thinking of? With my scanner and OCR software, I had everything safely in a spreadsheet in a jiffy. Once there, I could start playing with it. As you do.

Now I’ve got the formula for converting Plato to SG coded, I can do all sorts of clever things. Well, not really, but I can flip around between the two systems. The main manipulation I’ve done is to calculate the FG and degree of attenuation. The sort of crap I’m usually – or perhaps unusually would be more appropriate – interested in.

I’ve decided to split them into two groups: top- and bottom-fermenting. When I decided on that I thought it would be a neat way of dividing the old from the new. Expecting all the examples from older breweries to be Lagers, and those from the new boys not. I was caught out by many beers falling into an unexpected group.

I’m still not sure whether I believe that Brand Dubbelbock is really top-fermented. It’s also odd that some breweries with multiple Boks – Oldskool and Pelgrim, for instance – have examples that are both top- and bottom-fermented. So I’m not totally sure what my split has achieved.

I’ve excluded beers explicitly called Dubbelbok, though have left in ones whose gravity is in the right range (>18º Plato) but are just called Bok.

Though it’s nice to have a number for bitterness, the table demonstrates how careful you have to be with such figures. Of the traditional Boks, Grolsch looks on paper the most bitter. Yet I know from experience the opposite is true. Grolsch Bok in undrinkably sweet, coming over more like an Imperial Oud Bruin, full of artificial sweetener.

Overall, the average is very much like the classic Bok spec: 16 to 16.5º Plato, 6.5% ABV. Quite a few beers are on the pale side. I’d consider anything under 40 to be struggling to fit the style. I thought there were actually rules about the colour and OG in Holland for autumn Bok.

That’s me done, so here’s the table:

2015 Bottom-fermenting Dutch Bok

Year

Brewer

Beer

OG Plato

FG Plato

ABV

App. Atten-uation

Colour (EBC)

bitterness (EBU)

2015

Alfa

Alfa Bokbier

16.5

4.50

6.50

73.98%

47.5

26

2015

Amstel

Amstel Bock

16.5

3.58

7.00

79.39%

70

28

2015

Bavaria

Bok

16.5

4.50

6.50

73.98%

75

26

2015

Bekeerde Suster

Gewaeghde Bock

16.5

4.50

6.50

73.98%

60

26

2015

Budels

Herfstbock

16.0

3.96

6.50

76.41%

2015

Christoffel (H)

Christoffel Bok

20.3

6.21

7.80

71.02%

70

30

2015

De Leckere

Rode toren

16.1

4.07

6.50

75.88%

53

30

2015

De Noordt

Nooriit Bok

16

3.04

7.00

81.93%

45

25

2015

Emelisse

Emelisse Herfslbock

16.5

4.50

6.50

73.98%

45

17

2015

Grolsch

Grolsch Herfstbok

16.5

4.50

6.50

73.98%

70

30

2015

Groningse
Bierbrouwerij (H)

Grunn Bock

17.0

4.11

7.00

77.02%

100

40

2015

Huttenkloas (H)

Winterbock

17.0

3.20

7.50

82.19%

46

30

2015

Kaf en koren (H)

De rook van
Rotterdam

16.6

4.61

6.50

73.49%

43

35

2015

Koperen Kat

Delltse Donderslag

15.4

2.41

7.00

85.17%

45

43

2015

Maallust

Landloperbock

16.5

4.13

6.70

76.13%

62

32

2015

Mommeriete

Mommeriete Rookbock

16.5

4.13

6.70

76.13%

60

32

2015

Muifelbrouwerij (H)

D'n Ossebock

16

3.04

7.00

81.93%

35

25

2015

Oedipus

Speciale Bock

19

6.26

7.00

68.63%

35

25

2015

Oersoep

Sexy motherbocker

16

3.04

7.00

81.93%

35

2015

Oldskool (H)

Reinheitsgebok

19.5

4.98

8.00

75.88%

44

50

2015

Pelgrim

Pelgrim Bockbier

16.6

5.53

6.00

68.11%

70

30

2015

Sallandse
landbrouwerij

Bokkige Theodorus

17

3.20

7.50

82.19%

46

30

2015

Scheveningen

Scheveninger
Herfstbock

16.5

4.50

6.50

73.98%

65

30

2015

Sint Jutternis

Tilburgs bock 2015

16.7

3.98

6.90

77.32%

2015

Spierbier

Gespierde bock

16

4.16

6.40

75.19%

24

25

2015

Wispe brouwerij

Wispe bock

17

4.11

7.00

77.02%

57

30

2015

Zeven Deugden

Bock en Sprong

18

4.27

7.50

77.50%

34

30

2015

Gulpener

Gulpener Herfslbock

16.5

4.50

6.50

73.98%

Average

16.83

4.20

6.86

76.37%

54.23

30.40

Source:

Bokbierfetival programme 2015, pages 24 - 28.

(H) means contract brewed.

I wish I could be arsed to go through th 20-odd Bokbierfestival programmes I have to pull out the full historic data. But I've other more urgent bollocks, let alone the arsing.

1 comment:

Despite that, I'm not the biggest amateur of that style (which Nederlanders perceiving as their one & own, Proud to be Dutch style). My alter ego, when is looking at such numbers, wants to brew!!! :) Great work Ron, as usual :) Thankee.